


A World Apart

by DrAphra



Series: Zine Fics! [1]
Category: The Little Mermaid (1989), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Dabi is Todoroki Touya, Hero Ever After Zine, Keigo as Prince Eric, Little Mermaid AU, M/M, Touya as Ariel, and a LOT of shenanigans and drama in between, the shenanigans are... admittedly mershark!Toga's fault mostly
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-26
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-05 18:52:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,470
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25520113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrAphra/pseuds/DrAphra
Summary: The first sense to return is Keigo’s hearing, carrying with it the steady thump and rush of waves beating against the shore.  It’s a familiar sound - a constant and lulling symphony that he’s heard from his window all throughout his youth.Not so normal is the feeling of water splashing up along his calves in a rush that can only be the tide, as it recedes away almost as quickly as it appears. Salt air tickles at his stinging nose, and bright light beats against his crusty eyelids.Someone is stroking hair from his forehead, fingertips gentle and curious.  It’s that final sensation that gets Keigo to pry his eyes open.Red hair is haloed by the light of the sun, appearing almost on fire along the feathered edges, and bright turquoise blue eyes peer down at him, distant and contemplative.  Keigo has never in his life seen eyes that blue outside of the clearest oceans.Wow, he thinks, heart beating against his suddenly tight throat.
Relationships: Takami Keigo | Hawks/Todoroki Touya
Series: Zine Fics! [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1869805
Comments: 26
Kudos: 89





	A World Apart

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my piece for the [Hero Ever After Zine!](https://twitter.com/h_e_a_zine) I am so stoked to that I got to work with such an amazing team of mods and creators, and thrilled to be able to post my piece for it! If you guys are interested, the zine is available for FREE and you can download it [here!](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b5Oc_d0yX6TsVqRQrFcKIjcNg2KuQ0Yl/view)
> 
> Would also love to praise and thank the wonderful [Starship_Phoenix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starship_Phoenix/pseuds/Starship_Phoenix) for betaing this and really making it shine like a pearl for the zine. Star? You are the real MVP 💜
> 
> Without further ado, I hope you enjoy the first chapter of my Little Mermaid fic!

Touya scowls up at the roiling grey clouds above him, their despairing mood suiting his own black thoughts perfectly. Still, at least he’s safe to brood underneath the open sky. Somewhere leagues below him, Enji is probably rallying schools of guards to track down his firstborn heir, but they won’t find him up here.

He’s been to the surface many times before. Whenever he wants to escape his father or his responsibilities, he takes off at the earliest opportunity and rides the current up to the skies above. To air he can breathe that isn’t controlled by _King Enji._

Today is a day he needs more than just air. He needs to escape his own head too.

_"You cannot wield the Trident. I don't know why I expected anything else from you. Get out of my sight."_

No one but Natsuo knows where Touya goes when their father pushes him too hard, and his brother isn’t about to let Enji know where he’s disappeared to. Natsuo recognizes Touya’s need to escape, more than perhaps anyone else.

_Especially after a day like today,_ Touya thinks despondently, glancing down at the seaweed bandages bound around his forearms. Just the act of tilting his head reminds him that his neck is also wrapped thoroughly and he sighs, leaning back into his comfortable position of bobbing atop the waves. 

Overhead a sea hawk circles, hunting for fish. The sight of it makes Touya’s brows furrow, because it means he’s closer to land than he’s usually comfortable with. How long had he been drifting, anyway?

_Long enough for Fuyumi to be worried, certainly,_ he acknowledges, guts twisting in guilt. But still, he makes no move to return to his father’s palace and face his icy anger. Or worse, face wielding the Trident once more.

Touya gently rubs his left wrist. The bandages chafe against the worst of the burns, caused by magical backlash from the weapon he can command with far greater power than his father, but with absolutely no control. The wounds nearly cripple him each time, but that never seems to matter to the king of the seven seas.

_You’d think I was a Sea Witch, with how much he hates me. Could swim off to join Ujiko himself, and I don’t think it’d change his feelings._

Sighing again, Touya lets his hand drop back into the ocean with a wet _plop_ and contemplates the merits of returning home now or later. Whether his siblings will suffer worse wrath in his absence or not.

_What if I didn’t go home at all?_ He wonders, glaring at the angry clouds above him. They're edging towards black with the setting sun, and his mood darkens with them. _I could just… leave. Shouto will inherit the Trident anyway - he’s more skilled with it than I am and he’s only eight. No magical backlash, no painful injuries, just… training with Enji._

Which is, of course, the crux of the matter. As it always is. That decision had been made years ago, when Touya first held his baby brother in his arms and stared down into his two-toned eyes, awe and love filling his heart to the brim. His own anger aside, it would be agonizing to leave Shouto behind, even knowing that Enji would never truly harm his youngest and most promising progeny. Even knowing... that Enji might go easier on Shouto without Touya around to anger him so.

The realization that his siblings might be better off without him isn’t a new one, but the pain cuts like a knife every time. But he’s not strong enough to leave them. Not yet. 

_I’ll go back,_ he tells himself, throat tight and eyes hot. _I’ll go back and keep Enji occupied. It’s the least I can do, if I can’t do them the service of getting out of the way. Soon. Just a few more minutes._

The sun is setting with merciless haste, however, and while merfolk can see well enough in the dark, it’s still an awfully long trip back to Atlantica. Especially given how achey he is from training and the near-certainty that he’ll be dodging guards just to get back to his room. He shudders at the thought of having to dodge _Enji_ on top of his normal guard sharks.

Touya has just about worked up the will to move when an unfamiliar sound registers in his ears. A boom in the distance, followed by… crackling?

He tilts his head back in the water, looking behind him just in time to see a flash of colored sparks reflecting against the darkened clouds.His eyes widen at the sight.

“What is that…?” He murmurs, flipping himself onto his belly to see right-side-up. But still, he has no idea what the cacophonous bloom of colored light is, even as another shoots up to take its place.

_Wait, shoots_ ** _up?_** His eyes drop back to sea level, catching on a ship in the distance. 

His heart leaps in his chest at seeing one in action - a real live _human_ ship! He’d only ever seen their remains at the bottom of the ocean and gone through all the strange artifacts they’d left behind. 

But a real one? With actual _humans_ on it?

Touya bites his lip. Many merfolk fear humans to an almost irrational degree. Many others make sport of them, using their magical gifts to play with humans like toys - conjuring up whirlpools and cyclones just to watch the humans flail. 

Enji falls into the category of merfolk who see humans as nothing more than sand between the scales. An irritation and a nuisance, more than anything - much like how he sees Touya. And while Enji has never outright attacked humans, he had strictly forbidden his children from ever visiting the surface. 

_Not that his ridiculous rules have stopped me so far._

Touya’s fin beats thoughtfully against the water before he finally makes his decision, following the undeniable pull of the unknown toward the ship with the giant exploding lights.

Aboard the royal ship, _Fierce Wings,_ Prince Takami Keigo claps along with the sailors fiddling and singing and generally butchering their way through a popular shanty. The men grin at his involvement, and Keigo smirks at the bawdier lines that his adopted family would have been aghast to hear, enjoying the freedom to be himself. 

Overhead, fireworks flare and boom, lighting up the darkened sky with brilliant hues of red and gold and blue - the royal colors of his house. Heralding their return to port and Keigo’s birthday, all in one. 

He rather wishes it were just the birthday they were celebrating, but he keeps that bit to himself as men pat his back in congratulations and laud his willingness to work amongst the crew throughout their voyage.

“It’s the least I could do,” Keigo stammers when one man claims that without the prince’s speed in catching his lifeline, he would have been a goner for sure. 

More cheers and mugs of grog are raised to that, and the next shanty starts up with gusto, this one clearly written for Keigo, detailing his many adventures and achievements over the past two months at sea.

The sixteen-year-old flushes, a grin pulling at his lips. Never in his life has he been so thoroughly praised or celebrated. By far the closest thing he’d ever heard to the heaps of well-wishes were his adoptive parents congratulating each other on making a fine choice of heir, despite his common blood.

Remembering them freezes his smile in place. He’ll be seeing them either tonight, if they are able to dock, or on the ‘morrow, where they can interrogate him about the outcomes of his mission.

“Attention men, attention,” a tired voice calls over the decks, and the sailors calm their music and their singing long enough to let Mera Yokumiru approach Keigo. The aide’s tired eyes and slumped shoulders hadn’t been invigorated at all by the jovial atmosphere, but there’s a certain energy to him when he lifts up a box for all to see. Keigo just isn’t sure he _likes_ what an energetic Mera means for him.

“The royal family has requested that I present our prince with his gift on his sixteenth birthday, should we not be home soon enough for them to do so themselves,” Mera intones solemnly. Then he meets Keigo’s eyes and lowers himself to one knee, box proffered up for Keigo’s attention.

“Your majesty,” the aide invites, tone prompting Keigo forward. Reluctantly, he approaches and opens the gift, eyes catching on a swath of crimson fabric.

Oh, yes. He might’ve expected this. 

“It is the mantle worn by the heir apparent, when he has finally secured a betrothal worthy of his station!” Mera announces to much applause, as Keigo pulls the heavy fabric from the box, letting it spill from his hands until the end hits the rough wood of the deck. 

_Ah,_ Keigo thinks ruefully. _And by morning, everyone in the kingdom will know that I am betrothed. No chance of me discussing it with their majesties first, of course._

“Aye, does that mean this jaunt was a successful one?” One of the sailors bellows, inciting even more cheering. Keigo forces on another grin and hides his fisted hands in the folds of fabric. 

“Yes, sir!” he calls, knowing what answer he is expected to give. “Negotiations with our neighbors for the princess’s hand in marriage were successful. And of course you’re all invited to my wedding in the spring!”

Mera shoots him an annoyed glance at that, but Keigo pretends not to see. If he’s to be forced into a marriage that he does not want to a woman that he does not love, then he can invite whoever he pleases. It’s only fair.

More fireworks boom and crackle overhead, obviously in celebration of the news, and Keigo fixes his eyes on the cape in front of him. It would be rude not to put it on. Would go against protocol.

He’s not sure if it’s the weight of the fabric or the weight of its meaning that makes it rest so heavy across his shoulders, but Keigo dons it anyway - clasping it under his chin with a clink that sounds like a manacle sliding into place. All to more cheering and brilliant fireworks.

Except. Except that last flash of light didn’t come with a bang. Not until several seconds later.

“Storm ‘ho!” The lookout crows. “Coming up from the aft - captain, it looks like a bruiser!”

Keigo joins the heads that turn to the back of the ship, and sees another fork of lightning flash across the churning clouds. 

Thunder booms right behind it this time, much closer to hand, and the sailors scatter under the captain’s orders to batten down the hatches and reef the sails. It’s controlled chaos as the storm roars up on them with the ferocity of a true typhoon.

Keigo jumps at the opportunity to assist, hauling himself up the rigging with a speed hampered only by the cape he’d nearly forgotten about. It’s too much trouble to unclasp by the time he’s halfway up the mainmast, so he doesn’t bother - simply takes up the nearest line and starts hauling in the sails while blinking water from his eyes as the heavens open up.

Lightning crackles around them, huge sheets of it turning night into day. Keigo’s stomach lurches as the ship dips into an enormous trough, the waves finally catching onto the tumult being wrought across the sky.

Something enormous and blinding hits the mizzenmast, deafening in noise and magnitude, and Keigo’s whole world tips along with the ship, which keels into the waves like a wounded animal. Men are screaming and clinging on for dear life, and it’s through ringing ears that Keigo hears the call for the men to take cover.

He wonders why until a moment later when the front hold of the ship explodes, and Keigo realizes the lightning strike must have lit the remaining fireworks. 

The ship sways on the mountainous waves and gives a fatal crack, and the captain bellows up for them to get into the long boats; to abandon ship. Keigo’s boots hit the deck alongside the rest and his own voice rises in command for each man to seize a boat and _go._

He lingers though, making sure every sailor has made it down to safety, sharp eyes tracking across the flaming and shattered deck to account for all the men aboard. It’s how he sees Mera’s ash blond head nearly buried underneath the tattered sail and broken boom of the mizzenmast.

“Your highness!” One of the sailors calls behind him, but Keigo is already moving, fleet feet nearly flying over the debris in an attempt to reach his aide. Like the man or not, Keigo is _not_ going to let him die. 

“C’mon, Mera,” he huffs, dragging soaked canvas aside, splinters from the mast breaking off in his hands as he digs to get the man free. “You’re supposed to be _my_ aide, ya know.”

“And y-you’re supposed to have lost the accent, your highness,” the man wheezes back, his rain-streaked face ashen in the light of the fire. Keigo feels a grin tug at his lips despite himself - at least the man is alive enough to criticize.

“Let’s get you out of here. Can you move?” He grunts, shoving a half-shattered crate off the man’s ankles. He offers his aide a bleeding hand.

“Yes, sir,” Mera affirms, taking Keigo’s hand with his own. And with that, Keigo hauls him out of the wreckage and slings the aide’s arm over his shoulder, carrying him toward the railing where the boats are being lowered.

“Just a little further,” Keigo pants, blinking rainwater from his eyes and trying to keep his balance as the boat tips and jolts under his feet. He can see the sailors gesturing him closer from the railing, one of the boats remaining to take him and Mera aboard. They’re so close, he can see the whites rimming the men’s wide eyes.

Then there’s a loud creak followed by a terrible _snap,_ and Keigo can see enough horrified expressions for him to realize something’s wrong. He shoves Mera toward the men with all his might and then - 

\- then something hard and unforgiving slams into the side of his head, and the world goes black.

**_Several Minutes Earlier…_ **

Touya watches the ship continue to launch explosives into the air, apparently trying to… attack the sky? Perhaps the humans think they can fight off the storm that is creeping nearer? 

_If they had the Trident, maybe they could do it,_ Touya thinks as he swims closer, circling beneath the wooden hull while searching for a way to see what is happening above. Fortunately, he finds it in a handful of rungs poking from the side of the ship that lead up to a narrow ledge. Climbing them pulls his body from the water and makes him feel heavy in a way that he never does underneath the waves. But it’s worth it to see the commotion happening on board.

Dancing feet pound into the wood and music and laughter ring through the air as he watches from the openings through the railing. Men seem to be having the time of their lives, cavorting under the cascade of brilliant lights still exploding into the sky. Touya’s eyes are wide as he takes in the sight, never having seen such mirth and enjoyment concentrated into one spot. Even at his father’s lavish balls, there was never such a festive atmosphere.

An atmosphere that seems to revolve around one member of the party - a young man in a tan uniform, who grins and talks with the sailors with an air of confidence and ease. His golden hair reflects back the colors lighting up the air overhead, and his eyes shine like the coins Touya so often finds at the bottom of the sea.

The grin is what draws him in the most though, and he scoots closer to the opening, scales scraping lightly against the wood he’s balanced on. 

_He’s so pretty,_ Touya thinks wonderingly. To hear his father talk about humans, one would think them a barbarian race of fanged monstrosities. But _this_ human…

This human glides through the crowds with authority and grace, laughter and poise. Tan cheeks bunch into a broad smile at one man, and then flush at the words of another. Touya wonders, with a thudding heart, what the man could have said to bring such a color to the other’s cheeks.

At that moment, the ship rocks with a much stronger wave, and Touya’s bandaged arm bangs into the barnacle-encrusted wood. A sharp hiss escapes him at the fresh throbbing through his injuries, and he glances down to assess the damage.

But his eyes don’t linger on the red-stained seaweed for long. Instead, his gaze shifts to his tail, hanging off the little ledge with the tips brushing the waves below. Dark turquoise scales shimmer under the brilliant lights from above, casting back an almost rainbow effect as he shifts and falls with the waves. Pretty, certainly, but not human in the slightest.

Swallowing roughly, Touya’s eyes track back to the bandages wrapped around his limbs. The one on his arm had come loose with the impact, and beneath the smear of blood, he can see the wrinkled mass of scar tissue from years of magical backlash carved permanently into his skin.

_Even if I had legs..._ he thinks solemnly, not even bothering to finish the thought.

A sudden lull in noise from the deck draws Touya’s attention back to what’s happening, and he sees a man kneeling in front of the golden boy, presenting him with a gift of some sort.

Snippets of the conversation carry over to him with the wind picking up, and Touya listens intently to hear if the name of the man is said. But no, the only address he catches is _your majesty,_ which sends his heart thudding again.

On the one hand, he is royalty himself. On the other, so is Enji. 

_He doesn’t act like Enji does though,_ he thinks, watching the young man taking the brilliant red fabric from the box with an air of near-reluctance. There’s no blatant pride or cold disdain in his features. Only acceptance, which is something Touya understands all too well.

A noise sounds in the distance, and Touya cocks his head to listen. What sounds like a distant boom echoes across the waves again, and this time he catches a distant flicker of light as well. Nothing like the brilliant flares of colorful light still blasting over the ship, but cold and deadly - like the light that comes from the Trident when Touya wields it.

The next wave that hits the ship rides high enough to submerge Touya’s entire tail, and he glances back at the humans to see if any of them have noticed the change. However, it’s apparent that they’re too caught up in the festivities, their staggering across the rocking deck laughed off as a side effect of the sloshing drinks in their hands. 

Part of Touya wants to warn them, or at least the golden young prince, that they’re in danger but he hesitates, years of internalized fears and prejudice freezing him in place.

“Storm ‘ho!” 

The call is clear and loud, and immediately the ship’s humans spring into action, crawling all over the ship and doing inexplicable things with the big cream fabrics above the deck. Touya watches with his heart in his throat as the prince scales the ropes faster than anyone else, surefooted and relentless as he goes higher and higher.

It’s probably Touya’s unwavering gaze that prevents him from noticing the way the storm swells around them, but he definitely isn’t prepared for the violent blast that strikes the front of the ship. It hits so hard that the ship lurches and Touya tumbles from his ledge and into the water. 

Submerging into the waves again is like waking from a dream, and Touya shakes his head vigorously to clear it of his thoughts. Above him, the keel of the ship is still visible, but what’s the purpose of observing at this point? The humans will either survive the storm, or they will become bones for him to sift through at the bottom of the sea. It should make no difference to him what the outcome is, especially as he has his own troubles to worry about.

Still, he lingers, watching the ship pitch and sway above him and hearing another muffled _boom_ from overhead. For the life of him, he can’t explain the desire to see the humans survive. To see that golden prince, with his resigned acceptance of yet another burden, come out of this _alive._

Something splashes into the waves next to him - a piece of the ship - and Touya’s eyes widen in fear. If the ship is sinking, there’s little chance of the humans surviving without it. It’s not as if they have tails to rely upon. 

He darts to the left as another shaft of wood pierces through the surface, and then lets his head breach the waves, where he’s immediately assaulted with fresh water stinging against his cheeks and a sweltering heat pouring off of the ship, which is lit up against the black of the night.

Men are shouting - calls of _“your majesty!”_ ringing out across the water. Touya can see their silhouettes against the bright heat, but they flinch back when another wave crests over the sinking ship, nearly sweeping them into the black sea below.

Something _does_ fall over the side, and it’s only the flash of bright red that allows Touya to place what it is. Without further thought, he dives. 

Dodging the debris and gritting his teeth, Touya beats his tail hard as he follows the prince down into the depths, the other obviously weighed down by the cape billowing out like a cloud of blood around him. When Touya reaches him, he’s dismayed to see there _is_ a small cloud of blood coming from his temple, and his bright eyes are shut tight. Touya’s muscles strain as he wraps his bandaged arms around the prince’s chest and struggles toward the surface.

It’s difficult though, with the weight pulling them down. No sooner has Touya’s head broken the surface with a gasp rattling out of his lungs, than he and his passenger are pulled back under by the force of the stormy waves.

Frustrated, Touya dips below the surface and yanks at the clasp around the prince’s neck, snapping the delicate metal in his desperation. The weighty fabric immediately sinks into the ocean, and once more Touya hauls the human above the waves, desperate to get him into the open air.

With hair soaked and clinging to pale cheeks, the prince looks somehow smaller than before, but a weak cough shakes his chest, which speaks to his strength of will. Touya’s tail beats hard and steady to keep them above the sealine and he pulls the human to his chest and thumps him hard on the back.

A louder cough sounds in his ear, followed by a pained groan, and Touya’s shoulders sag in relief. The human is alive - alive enough to be making noises. 

_Now, what to_ **_do_ ** _with him,_ he thinks, feeling wet fabric scratch against his mangled bandages. He winces, but doesn’t loosen his hold on the cold body pressed against his own.

_Cold... he needs warmth. Land._ Touya closes his eyes, letting his senses sharpen, letting them pull him toward the place where the call of the sea is weakest.

They’re close. And Touya can make the swim, he thinks. 

Mumbling breath ghosts over his ear, and Touya nearly jerks in surprise, turning his head to gaze at the golden prince, whose eyes are barely open.

“Th..nkgyu,” the boy whispers hoarsely, cheek smushed leadenly into Touya’s shoulder, distorting the words. Hazy golden eyes trace Touya’s face, and he feels inexplicably ashamed for the scars that distort his features. Then it catches up with him that a _human_ is looking at him. At Touya, a _merperson._

_He better not remember this,_ Touya thinks, torn between regret and fear, gazing back into those golden eyes, which slip closed after another moment or two. A small blessing that feels rather like a curse.

“Get ahold of yourself,” he mutters into the rain-soaked air, beginning to scoop at the water with his tail, building up momentum to carry both of them to shore. “Just get him to safety quickly. You can do that. Then you can go home.”

Still, with the comfortable weight of the human pressed so close and the memory of those grateful golden eyes peering up into his own, the swim to the sandy beaches feels like an eternity that he doesn’t want to end.

The first sense to return is Keigo’s hearing, carrying with it the steady thump and rush of waves beating against the shore. It’s a familiar sound - a constant and lulling symphony that he’s heard from his window all throughout his youth. 

Not so normal is the feeling of water splashing up along his calves in a rush that can only be the tide, as it recedes away almost as quickly as it appears. Salt air tickles at his stinging nose, and bright light beats against his crusty eyelids. 

Someone is stroking hair from his forehead, fingertips gentle and curious. It’s that final sensation that gets Keigo to pry his eyes open. 

Red hair is haloed by the light of the sun, appearing almost on fire along the feathered edges, and bright turquoise blue eyes peer down at him, distant and contemplative. Keigo has never in his life seen eyes that blue outside of the clearest oceans. 

_Wow,_ he thinks, heart beating against his suddenly tight throat. 

Underneath those stunning, sparkling eyes, though… are ragged wounds. Keigo had once seen the family’s chef suffer a burn wound when being too clumsy with the oven. The puckered and purpled skin along this boy’s jaw and under-eyes looked awfully similar.

The boy’s fingers trace across his cheek bone, and Keigo shivers, despite feeling almost too warm. 

“Who..?” He tries, his voice rough from inhaling seawater. 

The boy starts, blinking rapidly before refocusing on Keigo with wide eyes. When he notices Keigo is watching him, he snatches his fingers away and props himself up on his elbows, pulling back and away almost too fast for Keigo’s confused brain to track.

“Wait,” he croaks, sand-crusted fingers reaching weakly for the boy’s wrist.

But the boy clambers back out of reach entirely, his tail splashing into the water as the next rush of waves crash into the shore.

_Tail?_ Keigo thinks, squinting into the sunlight sparkling off the water, wondering if he’d seen incorrectly. Throbbing behind his left ear really doesn’t help his thought process, but he _can’t_ have imagined something like that, right?

_“...Your Highness!!”_ a distant voice calls as Keigo struggles up onto his elbows, sand crunching under his weight. An especially loud splash catches his eye, and he swears he sees the tip of a deep blue tail flick into the air before disappearing beneath the waves. 

“Prince Takami!” The voice calls again, much closer this time, and Keigo recognizes it as the voice of his aide, Mera, though he sounds more ragged than the last time they’d spoken on the ship.

_On… the ship? Didn’t… didn’t something happen?_

Memories rush back to him, and he lets his aching eyes fall closed for a moment, just to process the flashing images. The ship had gone down, and so had _he._

_Which means… I should be dead right now._

Except for the boy with the red hair and sea-blue eyes, who had evidently saved him. Knock to the head or no, there’s no other possible explanation for him popping up on the shore, _alive,_ after he’d gone into the water completely senseless. Not unless someone had pulled him from the depths.

_How though? I would know him if he were a member of the crew. No way could I forget those eyes or those scars._

He can hear Mera’s tread kicking up sand in his rush to reach his prince, but Keigo doesn’t turn to look at him. His eyes are focused on the glittering ocean, where the boy had disappeared.

_I will find you,_ he promises himself. _You saved my life, and I didn’t even get to thank you._

“Oh, your highness, it’s a miracle,” Mera wheezes, and Keigo looks up to see the aide with an expression of infinite relief etched into his features. Far more expressive than he’d ever been before the journey, for sure.

_Surviving a storm like that - maybe he’s decided life’s too short to be so rigid,_ Keigo thinks, eying the hand that Mera extends to him.

“The men?” he asks, slapping his sandy palm into the other man’s, accepting the help up. He does _not_ expect the near-teary expression when he looks into his aide’s face.

“They’ll live,” Mera says with a thick voice. “And so will I, thanks to you.”

Keigo blinks in utter surprise when Mera sinks to a knee and bows his head.

“Anything you need, your majesty,” Mera swears hoarsely. “You have my allegiance above all others.”

_He didn’t get to thank me either, I suppose,_ Keigo thinks, swallowing hard. He stares down at the ash blond head bowed before him, then flicks his eyes to the sparkling waves.

“There… there may be one thing you can help me with,” he says, watching Mera’s haggard face turn up to face his. “If you truly mean ‘above _all_ others’.” He lets the import of those words hang in the air, and the aide’s grey eyes sharpen.

“Anything you need,” he repeats, voice clear and final. Keigo smiles and offers his hand to the aide in turn, hauling him to his feet.

“Then we have work to do. There’s going to be some rumors spreading about a successful engagement that we need to stop, and…”

“And?” Mera prompts when the prince takes a moment too long.

Keigo smiles out at the sea, hoping his rescuer can somehow feel his vow, “And we have a boy we need to find.”

Worse than feeling it, Touya _hears_ the promise. Hidden behind the rocks as he is, it’s hard not to catch the voices that carry over the water. And with his heart racing against his ribs, he realizes that… the prince will never find him as he is. After all, humans can’t survive beneath the waves like merfolk can.

_He’d need to grow a tail,_ Touya thinks, letting his head smack against the rocks behind him, scraping slightly with the swell of the waves around him. He snorts when he imagines introducing his father to a once-human. _That_ could only end in tears.

But… but if _Touya_ grew legs…

He could meet the prince again _and_ he could escape his overbearing father all in one fell swoop.

Touya presses a hand against his chest, trying to quell the soaring terror and hope pulsing through him. His fingers catch on the terrible burns that are mapped across his skin, though, and he realizes that even if he could stand on the sands with the prince and look him in the eye… the prince would likely flinch away when he saw just how damaged Touya was.

The thought causes him to sink beneath the surface, the energy leaving his body in one painful blow. 

_Only the Trident would be powerful enough to both give me legs and heal me, and it’s not like_ **_that’s_ ** _an option,_ he thinks, eyes burning. Then his spine straightens. 

It’s not the _only_ option, actually. The Sea Witch Ujiko might also be able to help him.

Beating his tail lightly against the water, Touya risks popping his head above the waves and peeking at the shore once more. And though they’re distant now, he can still see the golden hair and the sure gait of the prince - purpose seeming to give him more energy than before.

The thought of his siblings crosses Touya’s mind, but with Fuyumi and Natsuo relatively safe, and Shouto’s imminently stronger connection to the Trident, Touya doubts they would miss him at all. In fact, with the stinger removed from his side, Enji might even become less hostile. 

_They don’t need me,_ Touya realizes. _But_ **_he_ ** _did. He would have died without me._

_And I… I want to know what it might be like. To be a part of his world._

Decided, Touya lets himself slip beneath the glittering waves. Heart thrumming with the possibilities of escaping into a brighter future.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed this first chapter!! Again, you can check out the full zine [here!](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1b5Oc_d0yX6TsVqRQrFcKIjcNg2KuQ0Yl/view)
> 
> Looking forward to seeing y'all in the next chapter!
> 
> Page breaks by the lovely [Mod Lihn](https://twitter.com/mabbofu) from the Disney Zine!! 💜💜💜💜 See some of the other illustrations they did for the zine [here](https://twitter.com/mabbofu/status/1287116413996421120?s=20)!


End file.
